In 2022, we launched The Partner for Sustainable Change strategy, charting a clear course for our company towards 2025. One year in, we are on track to embed sustainability into the core of our project portfolio and company operations, and continue to progress in strengthening Ramboll’s leading position in the green energy transition.
Transformation must go hand-in-hand with good business performance, and we are pleased Ramboll delivered strong growth in 2022. We achieved our highest profit ever, although our margin was slightly lower than the previous year.
The result was underpinned by high demand for our services in renewable energy including Power-to-X solutions, water, and climate adaptation, low-carbon buildings, and for helping establish sustainability strategies for clients. We registered double digit organic growth in our Buildings, Water, Energy, and Management Consulting markets, as well as high organic growth in most of our geographies, particularly Denmark, Norway, Germany, the UK, and Central Europe, Middle East & Africa. We are pleased our business continues to grow in spite of headwinds in the world economy.
Green momentum
The outcomes of 2022 reflect the strong desire for sustainable solutions by our clients, who are motivated to decarbonise value chains and deliver on global goals for climate and nature.
Although high energy prices, stretched supply chains, and the tragic war in Ukraine have strained the world economy, they have also helped accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy. This is the right time to double down on low-carbon and circular solutions, helping embed sustainable approaches into clients’ value chains.
One example of how we do this is by helping ensure the security of energy supply in the EU and US. This includes the build-out of new renewable energy generation assets, such as offshore wind farms, as well as upgrading power stations and electrical systems that underpin the energy grid. Ultimately, this will enable uptake of increasing amounts of green power, even as energy demand rises.
“This is the right time to double-down on low-carbon and circular solutions, helping embed sustainable approaches into clients’ value chains.”
Satisfied clients
Our clients increasingly rank sustainability among the most important factors for the success of their businesses. Sustainability is therefore an important parameter in our interaction with clients – from helping them set decarbonisation roadmaps, to helping halt and reverse biodiversity loss. The value we bring is reflected in our Project Satisfaction Score, which remains high at 4.5 on a scale of 5 (2021: 4.46).
In 2022, we won large projects across diverse sectors, demonstrating our ability to deliver positive impact to clients cutting across decarbonisation, circularity, climate resilience, and biodiversity. We also launched new partnerships models, including working with banks to provide financial and sustainability consulting services to real estate clients to help reduce their climate impact.
Going forward, we will work closely with clients who want to achieve sustainability impact at scale, wherever they are on their transformation journey. We also continue to embed sustainability across our organisation. This includes implementing our approved Science-Based Targets for reducing carbon emissions across own operations; as a member of the Corporate Network of the Science Based Targets for Nature; and as an active member of the UN Global Compact.
Diverse and inclusive
Our 17,500 employees are a powerful engine for driving the sustainable change we want to see. We are supporting all our employees to improve their sustainability knowledge through our online Sustainability Learning Universe, launched in May 2022. At the same time, we expanded global and local initiatives on equality, diversity, inclusion, such as a new EDI council to extend the conversation on this important agenda with our leaders.
Bringing together colleagues with diverse competences and backgrounds lays the groundwork for better decision making and is a catalyst for the professional development of our people. As the Covid-19 pandemic subsides, employees return to our offices, the combination of hybrid work with physical presence helps build a sense of inclusion among colleagues.
We would like to thank each and every one of our employees for their dedication, and our stakeholders and partners for the trust they place in us. They are the basis for our continued success.
Let’s close the gap
Looking ahead, we will leverage our people and their skills to address the most pressing issue of our time: halving global emissions by 2030 to avoid catastrophic climate change. Getting to that goal requires businesses, governments, and individuals to rapidly close the gaps to a more sustainable future. Gaps in deploying renewable energy, scaling reuse of scarce materials, creating liveable cities, and enabling nature to flourish.
With the expertise we have at Ramboll – and working together with our stakeholders – let’s tackle the world’s toughest sustainability challenges.
Chair of the Group Board Jeff Gravenhorst
CEO Jens Peter-Saul